Latvian health authorities tell citizens to avoid travel to Malta and five other countries
The Malta International Airport remains shut, and a recent notice extended its closure until at least 16 June.
Latvian health authorities have issued a recommendation against travelling to six countries, including Malta, for their citizens due to the COVID-19 situation, the Brussels Times reports.
The Latvian Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (Slimību profilakses un kontroles centrs – SPKC) encouraged Latvians not to travel abroad, but issued a list of countries in Europe ranked according to how safe they are to travel to based on how COVID19 has affected the country.
The ranking is based on the “14-day cumulative incidence” of the virus as of 22 May, where Malta has ranked in 6th place out of all the countries, with a cumulative incidence of 25.6.
As a result, Malta is highlighted in red – signifying that travel to the country is “not recommended”.
Sweden, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ireland, and Portugal are the other countries highlighted in red, to which Latvians are not recommended to travel.
Other EU countries, such as Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany are all yellow, meaning that Latvians should “consider carefully” before visiting these countries.
For countries that are not highlighted, such as France, Greece, Austria and Switzerland, Latvian authorities believe it is sufficient to follow the standard recommendations.
The data is based on the infection rate of the countries, with the limit being set by Latvian authorities being that of 25 per 100,000 inhabitants over a period of 14 days.
The SKPC said that the data will continue to evolve in parallel with the situation in each country, and that the table will be updated again next week.
The news may come as a blow to Maltese authorities, as Latvia was slated as one of the nine potential ‘safe corridors’ for Malta to reopen travel to.
Luxembourg, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia, Austria, Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Israel were the first nine countries named by the government as being considered as a ‘safe travel corridor’, indicating that there were plans for a stepped reopening of Malta’s airport.
The Malta International Airport remains shut, and a recent notice extended its closure until at least 16 June.
As countries across Europe start to open up travel again, some have followed a similar system to Latvia, wherein countries are recommended as being safe to travel to due to their handling of the pandemic.
Cyprus was one such country which deemed Malta to be safe; Cypriot authorities said that they will allow travel to and from Malta once their airports reopen on 5 June.